Duty of Care

The basis of duty of care is that any person who imports, produces, carries, keeps, treats or disposes of controlled waste, or as a broker, has control of such waste, must take all measures applicable to him/her in that capacity as are reasonable in the circumstances to:

• prevent the deposit of controlled waste on land except under the terms of a waste management authorisation
• prevent the escape of waste from his/her control, or that of any other person
• secure that any transfer of waste is only to an authorised person
• be accompanied by a description adequate to help any subsequent holder avoid breaching the duty

In practice the legislation requires all producers, carriers and managers of waste to put in place a system of transfer notes in order to document waste movements. For details of the requirements see Waste Management The Duty of Care - A Code of Practice (.PDF 333Kb)

Further advice is available by calling Duty of Care helpline 028 9056 9360 or you can email joanne.weir@doeni.gov.uk.